Water, Earth and Air as Procreators in Genesis Chapters 1-3

Some of the ancient philosophers on the Ionian coast of Greece believed that there were fundamental elements like atoms that made up all of the matter in the universe. They are called "materialists" because they seemed to want to understand the underlying material consituents or parts in nature.

Some of them are also ancestors of the modern materialistic worldview, that is, a view that everything can be explained by science and reduced to operations of chemistry, physics, and biology.

In Sicily, a student of Pythagoras, named Empedocles, elaborated his views in poems. He said that Earth, Air, Fire, and Water make up everything that exists in the universe, held together by opposing forces of Love and Strife.

It is usually thought that Empedocles did not believe in an immortal soul, or anything spiritual underlying the material world.

In Genesis chapters 1 - 3 we find at least three of these elements: earth, air, and water.

Of the three elements, water seems to play the biggest role, as water was already there when God began his creative act. Genesis 1:2 says

"The earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters."

On Day One God created the light, and a day and a night passed. No elements were necessary here. Day One is mirrored by Day Four, when the stars and galaxies, the other planets in the Solar System, and the moon were all created.

On Day Two God created the sky by gathering and separating the waters. Some creationists believe that this referred to a cloud of vapor above the earth's atmosphere that would have protected the earth from ultraviolet rays. Day Two is mirrored by Day Four, when winged creatures and fish were "brought forth" from the waters and from the sky.

On Day Three God separated the waters on the earth and "brought forth" dry land from the waters, filling the earth with vegetation and plant life. Day Three is mirrored by Day Six, when "cattle" and "wild animals" of every kind were "brought forth" from the earth.

Then, on Day Six, as the crowning achievement of his creation, God made humankind "in his image" and "according to his likeness," "to have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and all the wild animals of the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

Water, earth, and air seem to have creative or procreative properties. The text says that water "brings forth" fish, and the air "brings forth" birds, and the earth "brings forth" vegetation and animal life. It's almost as if God created the three elements, and then allowed them to help create the life that fills them.

In the same way, God tells the man and woman to "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. Rather than fill the earth with people, God chooses to create two individuals and allow them to procreate and fill the earth themselves.

By creating plants, animals, and humans as procreators, God allows the creative act to continue and be ongoing, never ceasing, a continual reminder of the creator's hand.

So Empedocles is actually consistent with Genesis in saying that everything is made out of the four elements. This is entirely true of the plant and animal worlds.

But when it comes to humankind, there is another ingredient. They are made, not just out of dust, but "in God's image and likeness."

The second creation story says that God formed man from the dust and "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." This is God's life-giving Spirit, the same spirit that was hovering over the waters in verse 1 of chapter 2.

This spirit is different from all of the other elements because it gives life from nothing. It is not just a procreator, giving life from sexual reproductive cells that are already there, but a creator, giving life to the DNA and original cells, as well as giving man a spirit.

This is the main difference between Empedocles and Genesis, and Empedocles is just an ancestor of modern materialists who believe that everything is made up only out of constituent material parts.

Materialism is not the same as science. Materialism is a philosophy, while science is a method. Materialists do not have a monopoly on science. Neither do creationists. There is room in God's creation for all of us to put our minds together and seek the truth together. Let us all work together, side by side, to find answers.